[JURIST] A UN rights expert on Thursday urged [press release] the international community to help protect civilians in the northern and central regions of the country amid growing violence and crime sprees. Suliman Baldo [official profile], the UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Mali, reported increasing attacks and incidences of theft targeting humanitarian workers in the region following a recent eight-day stay in the country. Baldo says the increase in violence came after several violent extremists groups unified under the Al Qaeda name in an attempt to hinder the process of the UN’s peacekeeping operation as well as the implementation of a peace agreement between the Bamako and Tuareg rebel groups. As a result, Baldo says that the citizens of the effected region lack access to basic social services including forcing closes to stay closed, which Baldo argues deprives Mali children of their right to education.

The Mali crisis [BBC backgrounder] began in 2012 after a military coup was stage. The five primary Islamist rebel groups involved in the crisis are Ansar Dine, Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao), al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Signed-in-Blood Battalion and the Islamic Movement for Azawad (IMA). Mujao quickly captured the northern region of Mali, an area known for its drug production. This prompted a French military offensive in January of 2013 to drive the militants out of the region. Another rebel group, known as the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), lent their support to French troops in 2013 and declared the northern region of the country the independent nation of Azawad. The rebel groups signed a peace treaty [Al Jazeera report] with the Malian government in June 2015.